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July 8, 2002

Research: Causes and Prevention

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Question from Watertown, Connecticut, USA:

I recently caught the end of a television advertisement which mentioned an immune deficiency related to having pneumonia consecutively two or more times as a child. Since type 1 diabetes is an immune issue, can this be related? My son had pneumonia twice in one year, and also had many ear infections as an infant. He was diagnosed at age nine and had the infections from birth to the age of five.

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune problem, but is not related to the immune deficiency causing recurrent infections like pneumonia. From your description, it’s unlikely that the ear infections or the two cases of pneumonia have any direct or even indirect link to developing diabetes.

SB